100 Historical Stories That Unlock Teenage Wisdom

Chapter 15 4 Sima Qian worked hard on "Historical Records"

Chapter 24 Sima Qian worked hard on "Historical Records"

——Suffering is a precious wealth in life Suffering is a fortune in life.There are many stories in history of overcoming adversity with strong personal perseverance, and Sima Qian is a typical example.

Sima Qian, courtesy name Zichang, was born in Longmen (now Hancheng County, Shaanxi Province). His ancestors have served as historians for generations.His father, Sima Tan, was very knowledgeable and knowledgeable, so Sima Qian received a good education since he was a child.When Sima Qian was ten years old, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty re-appointed the official historian, and Sima Tan became the official historian.

Sima Qian's father, Sima Tan, specializes in literature, history and ephemeris, is familiar with history, and is familiar with the academics of pre-Qin scholars. He once wrote a historical work from pre-Qin to Han, but it was not completed.Sima Qian learned from his family and read a lot of books. He once studied under the masters of Confucian classics Kong Anguo and Dong Zhongshu. He became a learned man in Chang'an City when he was young.

When Sima Qian was 20 years old, with the support of his father, he began a national tour that lasted about ten years and traveled more than ten thousand miles.He once roamed along the Huaihe River and the Yangtze River, visited the legendary "Yu Cave" in present-day Zhejiang, inspected relics related to historical stories in present-day Hunan, and learned about local conditions and customs in Henan and Shandong, and observed the legacy of Confucius.While visiting and interviewing, he collected a lot of information and made a lot of preparations for his future history books.

In 116 BC, Sima Qian, who returned from his travels, was elected to the imperial court as a Lang Zhongling.But soon, Sima Tan died of illness.Before he died, he solemnly said to Sima Qian: "I have always wanted to write a complete history book all my life, and it is too late now. After you take over as Taishi Ling, I hope you can fulfill my wish." Sima Qian accepted his father's wish with tears. testament.In 108 BC, in the third year of his father's death, Sima Qian was appointed Taishi Ling.He began to browse the royal collections, organize his father's manuscripts and the materials he collected himself, and prepare for writing.It was not until 104 BC, when Sima Qian was 44 years old, that he began to write.However, not long after he started writing this big book, the case of Li Ling came out.

Li Lingyuan and Sima Qian worked together as Lang Zhongling, and later promoted to riding captain.In 99 B.C., Li Ling led his troops to attack the Xiongnu. He won successively at the beginning.But soon, Li Ling was outnumbered and defeated in a battle, and was forced to surrender to the Huns.Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was furious, and the ministers who originally congratulated the emperor also scolded Li Ling in turn.

Sima Qian had great sympathy for Li Ling's misfortune.When Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty asked Sima Qian what he thought of Li Ling, Sima Qian said bluntly: "Li Ling led five thousand infantry, went deep into the enemy's country, fought against a powerful enemy, and killed countless enemies. The enemy was panicked and frightened, so he mobilized cavalry from all over the country to besiege. Li Ling. Li Ling has always been able to share joys and sorrows with others, live and die together. He must have lost his way of retreat and surrendered to the enemy as a last resort. In the future, he will definitely wait for the opportunity to serve the country. Although he failed temporarily, everyone in the world knows his credit. Make up for his fault."

Sima Qian originally thought that these words would certainly alleviate Li Ling's charges to some extent, but he did not expect that after hearing this, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty increased his anger like adding fuel to the fire.Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty immediately put Sima Qian in prison.

During the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the imperial court enacted harsh laws and cruel punishments.Sima Qian was brutally tortured in prison. His hands and feet were put on torture tools, and his body was tied up with ropes.In order to force him to confess, the jailer stripped him of his clothes and whipped him.In the second year of Sima Qian's imprisonment, news came from the Huns that Li Ling, who had surrendered, was training the army for the Huns and preparing to fight against the Han army.It was only later that I found out that the person was Li Xu, and the person who delivered the news had made a mistake.But as soon as Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty heard about this, he immediately killed Li Ling's mother and wife.Sima Qian, who interceded for Li Ling, of course could not escape the crime and was sentenced to death.According to the law of the Han Dynasty, if you want to avoid the death penalty, you can use money to redeem it.Sima Qian was an upright official, he couldn't afford such a large sum of money, and Emperor Wu of Han didn't want to kill him, so he had to accept "corruption".Corruption punishment is also called "castration", that is, cutting off a man's testicles.This kind of punishment is not only cruel, but also a great insult to a person's personality.Sima Qian wanted not to be punished like this, so he just died.But I also feel that such a death is not trivial, and I should save my life to complete a meaningful cause.He remembered that King Wen of Zhou was imprisoned and tortured, and wrote "Book of Changes"; Confucius was trapped between Chen and Cai when he traveled around the world, and later wrote "Spring and Autumn"; Qu Yuan was exiled and wrote "Book of Changes". "Li Sao"; Zuo Qiuming was blind, and wrote "Mandarin Language"; Sun Bin's kneecap was dug out, and wrote "Sun Bin's Art of War"; Lu Buwei was exiled to Shu, and the world passed on "Lu Lan".These immortal works are all completed by the authors who suffered misfortune and hardships.He used these people as examples to encourage himself and continue to work hard.

Sima Qian's life experience has become more profound and enriched after this case.Especially the hypocrisy and cruelty of the society at that time that he experienced.In "Historical Records", he focused on describing the nobility of personality, and also profoundly portrayed the cruelty of the world.

Around 90 BC, a great historical work was produced.The title of the book was originally called "Taishi Gongzhuan", and later generations called it "Historical Records".This work includes twelve "Ben Ji", ten "Chronology", eight "Records", thirty "Aristocratic", and seventy "Biography", a total of 130 chapters, 52 words , in addition to the original, he also transcribed a copy.This work took Sima Qian 20 years from the time he started collecting materials at the age of 40 to the completion of writing.It can be said that Sima Qian dedicated his entire life to this work.

Wisdom Interpretation:

Being sentenced to corruption is a great shame and humiliation for any man.Sima Qian encountered such a thing, but his belief in writing history books made him choose to live bravely. At this time, the suffering experience and the huge pain caused by it turned into precious wealth for starting a business.

Ups and downs accumulate strength, suffering sharpens the will, and misfortune is a great school in the world.

The sun always comes after the storm, please believe in the rainbow!
Why do many people become discouraged in the face of adversity?Because they limited themselves to suffering, they did not use a goal to support themselves like Sima Qian.With the support of the spirit, the maturity brought about by suffering is the great wealth and great motivation on the road to success

(End of this chapter)